Portland team travel update

Hey friends and family. Quick update. We arrived at the airport this morning to find that our flight did not exist. The travel agency and the airline had different info on us. Who's to blame is a question for another day. The net result is that we will be in Portland until Monday. We will then have 48 hours of travel before arriving in Tulsa late Tuesday night. The students think this is a big adventure. Parents who want their kids home are less excited though very gracious. We're making the most of it and plan on having a great two days. I will be emailing travel details to parents today and will continue to fight to get us home earlier. More adventurous tales to come.

Memphis post 2

Day 2-Tuesday
"Wow" is the word that describes today. God continues to "WOW" us daily here in Memphis with His beauty through the Word, through this community (our team and our Memphis family) and through God Himself. Our day began with a 7:45 leaders meeting to pray and ask the Lord to fill us with wisdom and strength as we help lead these students to a closer, more intimate walk with Him. Btw-these leaders are phenomenal!! Big kudos to the parents, adults, and college kids who took their spring break to selflessly serve here in Memphis. What incredible examples of servant leaders. We are so grateful for this time with our big Mosaic family-Christ is the glue.

We have spent the past few days serving at 3 different gyms in the area. Since these gyms are key areas of ministering to the people of the community, we serve them by cleaning, painting, mowing, etc. There is soooo much to do, yet willing hearts to get the job done! Around 2pm, hundreds of urban kids flood into the gyms and while excitement arises, our worlds begin to collide. :) Our activities with these kids may include field games, basketball, playing with the new omnikin ball (ask your student about this), fingernail painting, etc. And while these fun events are happening, conversations about Jesus arise. The students are learning to be intentional in their conversations in the midst of activities...we are all learning this. We ended the night by taking the kids to an Arkansas State vs. Memphis Baseball game. While we ate $1 lean hotdogs and healthy hamburgers, we enjoyed each others company. What a sweet night! The students had an opportunity to share some stories of God's work today. Hearing them reminded us the work He is doing in and through these students. We wish we had the time to tell specific stories that each of them told, but with 41 students-it may take awhile. :) Please be intentional in asking your student about specific ways they experienced Kingdom work being done. We talked today about how we are ransomed and redeemed. Jesus paid the price for us...His death on the cross. We are praying that each student will grasp this Truth in their hearts. Thankful for a wonderful Tuesday....
The Memphis Team

Guatemala Final Post

Our final day was a memorable one. We insisted our time at the school this morning, doing our prodigal son skit, sharing testimonies, and playing games. It was such a joyful time. We went to a community group tonight that pastor Ramiro led. It was neat to see the church in its rawest form. I, Matt, got the chance to spontaneously teach...which was again a great honor. We ate dinner with the families there. One of the new families that came got to hear Alex do her testimony in the door to door time. It was neat to see the fruit of that courage stretching opportunity. Well friends and family, its 11:00 pm here, and we have to leave for the airport at 4:30. I am tired. We get home tomorrow and can't wait to share all of the stories. We will be meeting at Jose's at approximately 7pm. We will call when we leave from the Tulsa airport to tell you for sure

Many blessings. Pray for safe travel

Matt and the team

Guatemala Day 4

Another great day in Guatemala. We spent the morning at a school that pastor Ramiro works at as an English teacher. Tomorrow we will go back and do our gospel skit along with sharing some testimonies. Pray for soft hearts and open ears. We spent the afternoon and night in Antigua for a near end of week fun day. Lots of shopping, laughing, good coffee and dinner. Antigua is a beautiful place and we have lots of pictures for all families and friends to enjoy. Pray for us tomorrow that we would finish well. We want to close out our time on a high note, full of joy and courage. Everybody is feeling great and connecting well. Again, I am so proud of our students for their hearts and attitudes. They have definitely risen tot the occasion.

Blessings,
Matt and the team

Portland day 2

What a great day and a half. We began our time in Portland by acknowledging that everything we do comes from what we believe about who we are and who God is. So we are spending our first day and a half doing an intense walk through of the story of God. We have been looking at how God has revealed Himself to and worked through people since creation. It's been cool to discuss the story together and how our story intersects with His.

Tonight and tomorrow night we are sharing meals with gospel communities and learning their stories and how they live on mission in Portland.

Pray for good sleep. We're all just slightly jet lagged.

With joy,
Nick and team

Memphis post 1

Monday...
People of "mosaic outfitters" never cease to amaze us. The grace-filled hand of God + the pure awesomeness of these kids= an amazing team and an amazing time here in Memphis...the home of Elvis;) The day was full of hard labor, understanding the word "flexible", playing with Memphis kids of all ages, and ending the night with a powerful worship time with the Sunday morning students. :) A comment was made by the staff to Jarrett..."What
do you feed these kids over there in Arkansas? How are they all so amazing?" We agree! The servants hearts, the mercy/compassion over these Memphis kids, and the love for God has poured out. Parents, it is such a blessing to be with your kids! God is moving and we can SEE IT! Please continue praying for changed lives-we are praying with you. We are a little tired today-but full of His love and joy. Love you all:)

Guatemala Day 3

We have completed day 3 here in beautiful Guatemala. The weather has been perfect. The kids attitudes are awesome, Spanish is getting better and better while at the same time some very funny slip ups have happened. (our pastors name is Ramiro, but the word for prostitute is ramero. You can only imagine the look his face at our bad accents). The highlight of today was to see multiple people give their life to the Lord. Again, we went door to door strategically sharing the gospel, our stories, and praying for people. Caleb, Kelli, and Cydney got to see two tearful woman come to know the lord through cydneys testimony. Kristen, Sami, and Dylan got o pray for a family who was experiencing very vivid spiritual warfare, and also see the father of that house participate in spiritual conversations for the first time. Carter, Maggie, and Alex got to share with and pray with many families who have never let a Christian in their house before. It was so cool, and I am so proud of this team! Tomorrow we will begin the day in a school with 10-15 year olds playing games and doing bracelets. We are then going to take a midweek siesta and go to antiqua for a fun afternoon and evening. Pray that the seeds planted will begin to take root, as the next day we will return to share the gospel through the prodigal son skit. Things are going great. While we are a little sueno (sleepy), everybody is feeling great. We
Love you and miss you all!

Matt and the team

Portland team arrived safely

We're all settled in here in Portland. Hope to have a full post tonight. Much love!

Nick and the team

Guatemala day 2

Blog
We have finished our second day in guatemala, which technically was our first full day here. And what a day it was! We began the day early, in devotions before getting to go to pastor Ramiro's church in la Pintino. It was a fantastic service, filled with singing, hugging, and studying john 17 again together. It was a real treat. In the afternoon, after out team study on Matthew 11, we went back to la pintino T share door to door testimonies. I was so proud of our stude T's who courageously shared their hearts to people they have even ever met. Many got to share the gospel as well with fami,it's and businesses there. We finished the afternoon doing e prodigal son skit to about 100 6-10 year olds, making pig puppets out of paper bags (way to go Karen Ramos! She rocked at these teaching everybody on the spot), and then dancing, singing, and p,aging soccer till the sun went down. You almost had to drag some our team to bed they were so tired. I would say that along with ongoing safety, you could pray hard for the teams energy. It was only the first day, and most of us were dragging. We have to get up at 6 tomorrow to get the day going as well. Pray for strength and energy! We love you all, everybody is doing incredible

Hasta mañana,
Matt and the team

Guatemala - Day 1

We made it to Guatemala!  After a great day of traveling, we got here at about 8 pm last night and had dinner at our church partner for the week, Ramiro's , house. We heard all about his life and vision for the little neighborhood he ministers too.  It is the town of la pinito (close?) ...which means the pine tree.  Which is pretty funny because there is not a single tree in the entire neighborhood. We will be at church in the morning, where I will be preaching, going door to door praying with families, sharing stories, and making friends. Pray for courageous hearts!  The kids are all staying 2 by 2 in host homes and loving it. Good news is I have Internet at my house so will be able to blog at least once a day. We love you!

Matt and the team

Spring Break Trips are Here!

Hey guys and gals. Guatemala Team took off this morning, officially launching our Spring Break trips. This will be the place to find all info about trips. You can also check facebook and twitter for quick updates. Please be in prayer for our teams.

for His glory and our joy,
mosaic students